Jonas Polsky: Comedy Audiences And Taping →
by Jonas Polsky
This evening there was a dust-up about how a young Patton Oswalt handled an audience member videotaping his set. Patton asked if she was taping and the woman responded, “You’re going to want that whole chunk on tape, it was perfect!” I wasn’t there, but that quote underscores…
Re: the butthurt Patton Oswalt “scandal”. My two cents:
Cent 1) Don’t tape comedy shows. Or any live shows. Just sit back and enjoy the damn show.
Cent 2) Guess what? Comedians are assholes. And that’s why we love them! Do you really think Patton Oswalt is going to just politely dismiss someone who is stealing his work? I mean sure, it does sound like he was rude about it- but he was thrown off by a jerk and was probably trying to save his set. And the jerk taping the show was being a jerk! And comedians mock jerks at their shows!
Honestly, I never gave much thought to people taping comedy shows, so this has been interesting to follow. But it’s so clear that Patton was in the right here, and I can’t believe a fellow comedian was so shocked by his reaction.
